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TOBACCO BUSINESS INTERNATIONAL
MARCH/APRIL 2016
TMA REPORT
which would move the
predicate date
forward from February 15, 2007 for
newly deemed tobacco products. Von
Vape encouraged all parties in the
e-vapor industry to take action such
as writing to their senators and house
representatives to support HR 2058.
…A newly launched group called the
Vapor Technology Association
(VTA)
based in Washington, D.C., comprising
manufacturers, wholesalers, small
business owners and entrepreneurs
in the vapor technology industry,
aims to bring a “fresh perspective to
the industry and the policies that
impact it.” The group will look to
serve as an advocate for “leaders in the
vapor community” who support new
technologies, responsible policies and
regulations, and high safety standards.
…A study led by Maciej Goniewicz
of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in
Buffalo, New York and published in the
medical journal
Thorax
measured levels of
benzaldehyde
—an ingredient in natural
fruit flavors that has little or no toxicity if
ingested or applied but has been shown
to cause irritation of respiratory airways
in occupational exposure studies—in
the aerosol produced from 145 e-cigs
purchased online. The effort found the
chemical compound in 108 of them, with
the highest levels measured in cherry
flavors, leading Goniewicz to say that
research is needed to “understand if these
chemicals are safe for inhalation…[since
there] may be no health consequences,
but we don’t really know this.”
…Clarence, New York-based plant
biotech firm
22nd Century Group
(XXII) announced January 4 that its
wholly-owned subsidiary Goodrich
Tobacco Company submitted a
Modified Risk Tobacco Product
application to FDA on December 31,
2015 seeking an order allowing XXII’s
“very low nicotine” cigarette “BRAND
A” to be introduced with the disclosure
on its packaging and marketing that it
reduces smokers’ exposure to nicotine.
…Corey Johnson, a member of the
New York City Council and chairman
of the council’s Committee on Health,
introduced a bill to
ban smokeless
tobacco use
in the New York Yankees’
home baseball park Yankee Stadium,
the New York Mets’ home baseball park
Citi Field, and other arenas in the five
NYC boroughs, with the goal to have
the legislation approved and signed by
Mayor Bill de Blasio quickly in order
for it to be in effect by opening day of
the 2016 regular season in early April.
AT&T Park in San Francisco, Dodger
Stadium in Los Angeles, and Fenway
Park in Boston already have similar
bans.
…President Obama signed in to
law the
Child Nicotine Poisoning
Prevention Act
sponsored by Sen. Bill
Nelson (D-Florida), which requires
child-resistant packaging for nicotine-
containing e-liquids used in open
systems, while exempting “sealed, pre-
filled, and disposable” nicotine containers
for closed-system e-cigs, with the rule to
be enforced by the Consumer Product
Safety Commission, an independent
government agency.
TBI
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